Dallas Sierra Club Calendar
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Aug 31-Sep 5 (Thu-Tue) Pecos Wilderness, Sangre de Cristo Mountains, New Mexico
This Labor Day weekend, we're traveling by sleeper bus to backpack in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of the Pecos Wilderness Area. From trailheads at Cowles and Jacks Creek, we'll hike in five groups of five to ten per group through fir and aspen forests to meadows above the tree line. Each group will enjoy four days of hiking and three nights of camping. The Pecos Wilderness is one of the very best and most memorable destinations in the southern Rockies. Our bus will leave Dallas Thursday night to arrive at trailheads Friday morning. We'll bring you home by 6 AM Tuesday. Complete trip information, including detailed hike options, cost, and sign-up instructions are in this PDF file. As of July 31, all places on the outing were filled. If there are cancelations, we'll add from a wait list comprised of applicants whose check and forms we hold. Contact the trip coordinator to inquire. Coordinator: Steve Fleischman Send Email 972-689-7317
Sep 16 (Sat) Trail Maintenance at Cedar Ridge Preserve
Come to the hilly terrain of Cedar Ridge Preserve to help maintain one of the better trail networks in Dallas. The Sierra Club is responsible for the Possum Haw Trail. We work here on third Saturdays of almost every month, starting at 9 AM, working until approximately noon. (Note that this is an hour later than our summer starting time.) The Preserve's address is 7171 Mountain Creek Parkway, Dallas. For directions and general information about Cedar Ridge Preserve, click this link. If you need more information or want to carpool, call or email me. Contact: Ginger Bradley Send Email 469-223-7902
Sep 16-17 (Sat-Sun) Red River Canoe Trip
We'll put-in on Saturday morning about an hour north of Dallas. The rest of the day will be spent swimming and relaxing as we paddle down to our campsite on a large sandbar. Sunday we'll canoe on down to the takeout with a few swim stops on the way. This is a very nice section of the Red River, with very little development along the banks. Some canoeing experience is required and you must furnish your own canoe and camping equipment. Trip rated: Easy. Leader: Bill Greer Send Email 972-247-0446
Back in the '80s long-time river-runner and Sierra Club leader Mark McClain started leading an annual summer trip on the Red River. Since it was scheduled around mid-July, it became tradition to call it the Bastille Day Canoe Trip in honor of Bastille Day. Bastille Day, a French national holiday, celebrates the storming of the notorious Bastille prison by revolutionaries on July 14, 1789. For 22 years the trip was a Sierr
a Club tradition. Then climate change and drought hit, the Red River pretty much dried up, and for a few years we haven't done the trip. Now the Red is staging something of a comeback, so let's give the trip another try! We'll do it a little later in the year when hopefully it's not as hot as July. We'll miss Bastille Day but still get to enjoy a nearby river.
The Red River is a largely undiscovered gem of a flat-water canoe stream that is only a little over an hour away from the DFW area. Although the Red River is famous for its red silt, the water quality (if not clarity) is excellent. Swimming and floating are very enjoyable. There is very little development along most of the Red River, so it provides a very nice wilderness ribbon between Texas and Oklahoma.
Saturday night we will make camp on a long sand bar. We’ll have time for swimming, floating and fossil hunting (there are some excellent fossil beds along the river). Since the July trip needed plenty of time for swimming and cooling off this will be a very leisurely trip. We'll cover about 12 miles Saturday and 8 Sunday. If you want to see how many miles you can paddle in a weekend this isn't the trip for you. Bring a tasty beverage to enjoy Saturday afternoon along the river.
Don’t miss this Dallas Sierra Club tradition. See you on the Red!
Sep 20 (Wed) Outings Committee Meeting
The Outings Committee meets tonight at 6:30, upstairs at Whole Foods Market, SE quadrant of Preston Road and Forest Lane, Dallas. Anyone interested in outings is welcome. Reply to Mark to be added to the advance agenda email list or to suggest an agenda item. Let's finalize a line-up of fall 2017 outings and discuss where we want to go on trips in 2018. Organizer: Mark Stein Send Email 214-526-3733
Sep 27 (Wed) Wilderness Navigation Class--Part 1
Don't miss out! Join us for this outstanding, bi-annual two-night class to help you navigate in the backcountry with map and compass. Part 1 is Wednesday night at 6:30. Part 2 is Thursday night at 6:30. Both sessions are upstairs at the Whole Foods Market, SE quadrant of Preston Road and Forest Lane. The fee for the two-night class is $35 for Sierra Club members, $40 for non-members. An optional field lab for class participants will be set on Saturday or Sunday. Pay in advance by clicking here or pay at the door. Bring a compass if you have one. If not, we'll have an extra you can use and we'll advise what to look for when you buy your own. Both sessions will run until approximately 9:00. Coordinator: Liz Wheelan Send Email 214-368-2306
Sep 28 (Thu) Wilderness Navigation Class--Part 2
Join us for this second night of a two-part class that begins Wednesday, Sept. 27. Both sessions are at Whole Foods Market, Preston Road at Forest Lane. See above for details and link to pay online. Coordinator: Liz Wheelan Send Email 214-368-2306
Oct 13-15 (Fri-Sun) Fall Weekend at Beavers Bend State Park, Oklahoma
Make Friday the 13th special and join us for this relaxing weekend of fall beauty in scenic southeastern Oklahoma. We have an entire group compound reserved, complete with your choice of rustic cabin or tent camping, bathhouse (yes, hot showers!) and dining hall with kitchen. We'll offer Saturday hike options with Dallas Sierra Club leaders, ranging from a one-mile nature trail to a 7-mile roller-coaster trail up, down and over the skyline ridges. The park offers additional activities, including paddling (rentals available), horseback riding and more. We also offer a Saturday night catered dinner option. This weekend is for singles, couples, families, friends, young and young at heart -- a great event for all. Details and reservation information is in this PDF. Don't wait, sign up now! Trip rated: Kid Friendly. Coordinator: Liz Wheelan Send Email 214-368-2306
Oct 18 (Wed) Outings Committee Meeting
It's a third Wednesday of a month, so 6:30 is the time for another gathering to plan outings, upstairs at Whole Foods Market, SE quadrant of Preston Road and Forest Lane, Dallas. Anyone interested in outings is welcome to attend and participate. Reply to Mark to be added to the advance agenda email list or to suggest an agenda item. Organizer: Mark Stein Send Email 214-526-3733
Nov 4-5 (Sat-Sun) Beginner Backpack Trip to the Caney Creek Wilderness
Join us for one of the Dallas Sierra Club’s favorite local backpacking trips. We’ll backpack in about 4 1/2 miles along Caney Creek, cross it a few times, and climb some small hills. After setting up camp near a waterfall, we’ll do a short day hike as time and energy permits. For many of us this was our first Wilderness hike and it's still one of our favorites. Trip rated: Easy. Leader: Sue Greer Send Email 972-247-0446
We
'll spend Friday night at a Forest Service campground near our cars. We'll meet at the campground Saturday morning and caravan to the trailhead. We'll backpack in to our campsite near some nice falls on Katy Creek. Sunday we will hike back out to our cars over the same route. It always looks different going the other way. We'll stop for a late lunch in DeQueen, Arkansas on the way back home. You'll hike enough miles to check out your gear and readiness for future trips, but not TOO many miles.
Feb 28-Mar 5 (Wed-Mon) Big Bend National Park
YES! Dates for the 2018 sleeper bus trip to hike in Big Bend National Park have been set. We'll depart Dallas on the night of Wednesday, February 28, hike on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and arrive back in Dallas by sunup on Monday, March 5. Details will be posted here in November or early December. We plan to offer five alternative hike routes. Most alternaitves will backpack on most days and camp in the backcountry. At least one will base camp in a group site in the Chisos Basin and make days hikes each day, backpacking short distances on the first and last days. Bus trip leader: Arthur Kuehne Send Email 214-608-3210
